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Monday, July 30, 2007

This morning, I had a lovely post all thought out and ready to write but then I couldn't get into flickr toys to create my mosaic and I was too amped up because I was getting my hair cut later so now I am back with a new and improved do and oh so happy at making a brand new friedn courtesy of flickr! Pitures coming soon but seriously, if yer in the Los Angeles area and want some styling hair finesse, seek out my new pal Geeee-Nah! Happy Day folks, click here for more detail about my week!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

...I have been tagged by Emily and since I am always telling and sharing just a little too much I will stick to eight things for this post and only eight things (with pictures for your viewing pleasure)...here goes.1. I can't sleep with my toes dangling over the foot of the bed. Many years ago I read a short story in Twilight Zone Magazine about a bride who asked her new husband to tuck the blanket under her toes because even though she knew that there were no monsters under the bed she just couldn't sleep with her toes out and of course he laughs at her to grow up. She agrees she is being silly but in the middle of the night she is dragged under the bed and never returns. Now, everytime I wake up and my toes are off the foot of the bed, I quickly pull them up and I can see my teenage self reading that durned magazine oh so long ago.2. I love, love, love Ovaltine. Especially in the blender with some frozen strawberries and ice to make it all frothy.3. When I have too much to do and the house is a mess which is pretty much always, to de-stress, I pull out my suitcase of ribbon and reorganize it by color. I make nice neat towering stacks in red, green, pink, etc. and then I put them back in rainbow order.4. Speaking of suitcases, I have a thing for suitcases. Especially old wonky cases and small cardboard cases. I horde them and then have no place to put them but then I fill them with things I then promptly forget about.5. I love musicals. Especially old movies with dancing. Fred Astaire makes me especially happy and if I get up at any point in the movie to go to the kitchen or the bathroom I have to twirl and dip and use jazz hands or whatnot.6.I was once on an episode of A Baby Story. I was the featured book expert and they flmed me dfoing a storytime about new brothers and sisters and then they interviewed me on the importance of reading. I got all flustery and nervous and used my hands...a lot and thankfully I have never seen the episode which is probably a good thing since I was wearing my prized autographed Bob McGrath t-shirt that was many sizes too small. I don't have the shirt any longer but I do have an autogrpahed CD.7. I have an ancient yellow gameboy that is now being played endlessly becasue of the summer heat. The only video game I am good at or can even attempt to play is Tetris. Sometimes when I play for too long I start seeing the world around me in Tetris shapes. This was particurlay alarming when I worked a the bookstore and would stare at the shelves and shelves of books looking for gaps that would fit a blue or red "L" block.8. I am a big fan of naps even though I feel guilty about taking them. I took two naps on Saturday. It was too hot to do anything else. The mister took a nap on the livingroom floor. He used his yoga mat as a cushion. When I nap, I sleep on my back with my glasses on until my snoring wakes me up.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Click on the pic to read more about it. Today is an interesting day which will be spent in a waiting room at the hospital. The mister has some tests that need to get done so please cross your fingers for him. I am takign a day from work to hang out and read bad gossip mags as I wait to whisk him away for some much anticipated food.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Last year I had planned to post all sorts of ice cream facts, fun and recipes. Sadly there was a loss in our family and everything changed. I still want to do a big ice cream bonanza but this year I just got too busy. I did manage to eek out a moment to do this and even take pictures of it cuz ya know it is just so purdy!Don't ya think? Chocolate dipped pretzel sticks in a pretty bowl of vanilla ice cream would make any ice cream moment that much more festive, this is soooo easy to do, even kidlets can do it!

All ya need is some pretzel sticks, chocolate, microwave proof bowl, wax paper, cookie sheet , freezer and sprinkles. That's it! You can heat your chocolate in a pan on the stove but if you are pressed for time the microwave does wonders! I used half a bag of Trader Joe's Semi-sweet chips. Popped them into the microwave until they were melted, added some cinnamon and stirred. I dipped the sticks into the melted heaven and plopped them onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Once all the chocolate was mostly used up, I added sprinkles to a bunch of the sticks and stuck the whole thing into the freezer to set. Once they were set, I let them set for about 40 minutes but I think they were done in 15..I kind of forgot I was making them, pop them into a plastic bag or sealed container and you are good to go!

Today I will have more adventures on the subway which I completely forgot to write about last week. There was a lot going on last week. Wish me luck and have a happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

I know FCXL Summer was a week ago but here's a collage of all the goodies I picked up. Click here for more detail. It was way too easy for me to spend money. It's a good thing the next one isn't until November! I've been so behind on everything this month. I've been mailing packages out late, uploading flickr pics that are weeks and weeks old and just all around lateness. It has been too nice outside even with all the hot, hot, heat to actually get things done. Ya know, the kind of weather that makes you want to lounge about in a hammock, reading fluff and drinking tall fizzy drinks. We even got a tiny touch of rain yesterday which woke me up around 5:30 so that I could sit at the window and watch it. The garden has been amazing this summer and I am having the best love affair with tomatoes and fresh veggies. I have even been behind in grocery shopping. I have been doing a lot of "What can I make with a can of chickpeas and this?" Last night I made a pretty tasty pasta with a "no cook" sauce of chickpeas, tomatoes, green onion, lemon and sauteed greens and onions. It was soooo tasty! It probably would have been better with other noodles but all we had was spaghetti. I also discovered some puff pastry in the freezer and whipped up a sour apple tart. I am loving this cooking with whatever is on hand! Last week I made a pizza using a premade round. I smothered it in a garlic yogurt sauce, added some steamed yukon gold potatoes, broccoli, sliced onion, fresh rosemary and whatever cheese was in the fridge. Viola! A tasty pizza that rocked even more as leftovers. Tonight we will be partaking of leftovers since I made so much pasta. We have a 24 pound watermelon to chop into and some strawberries to finish off. Maybe I'll try to find a farmers market on the way home from work tomorrow...that sounds like fun!

I also finally, finally, finished my five things for the bug swap and I am so pleased with them. Methinks I may add some to the shop...I gotta figure out how to balance the busy, busy, busy-ness with the lazy, lazy, laziness!

Gotta skeedaddle. I have books to return, teeth to brush and work to head out to. Happy Tuesday folks!

Monday, July 23, 2007

Even with the ickified moments last week I managed to take some fun and colorful pictures. There were good moments, I just felt ick for most of the week. Our weekend was nice, somewhat. Poor Mr. A-go-go is being sucked dry at work and it is a terrible thing to see, his spark has dwindled. Damn work! Yet even with all the junk and ick we managed to have a few laughs.

There were packages sent and packages received and summertime cooking and fruit. There was a visit to Oki Dog where we sat amongst a cast of characters that would make your head spin. There was work, there was school business and there was as always gardening to do. We visited with granny and family and the bushee boy and I did a lot of art this week. We watched odd movies and a Godzilla flick and I managed to do a teeny tiny bit of crafting. Today I need to finish my application, do a little cleaning and hopefully some crafting.

I hope you all had a great week and if not, here's to something better!

Friday, July 20, 2007

I'm having a difficult week. Not as bad a "bad brain" week but one of those weeks where you feel like you can't do anything right and when one of the things you love doing so much is attacked by one small-minded person, you let it bug you because you are having one of THOSE weeks. Sigh. I'm also trying to wrap my head around the application process for school. I think I put it off because I am a wuss and I hate how everyone seems to know how to do stuff like this except me and why oh why am I not able to "get it"? Erk. It has been a week where I say things that come out completely snarky when that wasn't my intention. I have oodles and oodles to do and somehow manage to forget about doing them. Instead, it has been of the utmost importance to read Sweet Valley High books. I am having one of those weeks where I simply feel foolish and bummed out. But you wouldn't know it to see me. I've got my wig and clown nose on and I am determined to make y'all think I'm a happy camper. I was a happy camper in that photo above. It was almost a year ago and my sister and her family came out for a visit. It was the hottest day of the year at 118 degrees f and we decided to go thrift shopping and photoboothing. It was crazy, crazy hot and the mall was super bursting with people but we went anyway because they had air conditioning and we were hot and hungry. We had lunch, visited the booth, picked up some See's for dessert and then ran around Ikea taking pictures as if we lived there.

I hope next week is better. More photoboothers can be foud in the flickr pool. Happy July!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

I'm eating homemade peach cobbler for breakfast. Is that even legal? My neighbor made it for us as a thank you for watering her garden. The gift was completely unnecessary but completely yummy also. Don't worry, I have some juice or milk or somethng to balance out all the butter and sugar.

This tomato you see up here was the first tomato from our crazy crop. We also have a Tiny Tim bush but with it growing so close to the ground it seems it has become a new habitat for little worms and bugs and such. Darn those pesky bugs. This tomato was absolutely mazing. So sweet and juicy and just delovely. Here is a picture of it sliced, the color is almost fuschia! Too bad you're not a neighbor. We've been handing these out all week. I've been planning my weekend lunches and weekly dinners around them. I love having a garden! LOVE IT!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of chatting with a wee one who will only answer to the name Minnie Mouse. She told me all about why she won't go into The Tiki Room. It was adorable and I had a blast. Today will hopefully wrestle up some more nifty conversations and then I need to write my personal statement for my Pacific Oaks application. Personal Statement? what is that exaclty. Can any of you smarty pants out there help me with this? Yikes! I gotta go to the post office and then catch the subway...time for work!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

One of my dearest and niftiest friends is going to have a baby. The wee B.Birdy is due in a few weeks and the baby shower was two weeks ago. I am a far from a subtle gift giver and can get kinda crazy but I think I reigned it in pretty well. The mister and I made the new-family-to-be a nifty circus themed baby quilt.

I pieced it and stitched and the mister helped me pin and all that jazz.

We added a treasure trove of polka-dot ribbon tags all around the edges for the little miss to roll or crawl to when the time comes.

All I can say other than how pretty it is, is that wrestling all that fabric into your sewing machine is enough to cause you to growl and say things you probably shouldn't while making a pretty pink baby quilt.

I also presented them with a small assortment of circus themed books. Babies can never have too many books. I don't think anyone can have too many books except for The Leets who is probably shaking her head as she reads this saying "Jeksa? I think I may have too many books!" and I would tell her that yes, maybe she has one or two too many.

All this quilty stuff reminds me of all the tiny doll quilts I am seeing pop up all over the internets. These tiny quilts remind me of my Mamos and the gifts she used to make for me to give to the little girls whose parties I was invited to. As a tow-headed tot I was invited to a lot of birthday parties. We were flat out poor folk and well, my mother had an exquisite eye for beauty and hated the stigma of poor that hung over our heads so she always went a little all out when it came time for birthdays. The year I turned six was the year of the doll kit. She made these adorable cookie cutter shaped dolls about eight inches tall. Arms and legs akimbo with sweet embroidered smiles and long yarn hair braided into pigtails. Each doll was dressed in tiny handmade dungarees and plaid shirt with itty bitty buttons or snaps down the front and came with a nightgown, robe, and party dress. The dolls were lovingly placed in a wicker basket that Mamos turned into a bed with tiny pillow and matching quiltlet. All in all a very beautiful and sweet birthday gift. My dollie had brown hair and her quilt set was all navy blues and purples. It was made from a faux quilt print but all that sweetness wrapped up in a basket was magical to me and my friends. I still have the quiltlet but sadly cannot find my dollie. More than a decade ago before my Mamos died I tried to get her to make them again. I told her that people would start to turn to simple handmade items for gifts, that the whimsy of what she made would trump a beanie baby any day. I wish she had made them. I've been hashing them out in my head and have attempted them on my own but all it does is make me miss my Mamos more. She would have loved the internet and I do believe the internet would have loved her.

Monday, July 16, 2007

I do believe last week was quite satisfactory. It was super busy with no time for crafting but I felt productive whihc felt good. Plus, I did a whole lotta visitin' with new friends and old. Visiting is always a good thing!

There was work, paint, kids, cupcakes, laughs, movie watching, book reading and of course, Felt Club shopping. It was also a week of Rootbeer Floats and hanging out in the garden. The tomatoes are coming in full force! All in all it was a swell and nifty week!

Felt Club was a blast. The best part was meeting soooo many flickr peeps and vendors whose blogs I have reading for years! It is such a surreal thing to greet and holler at a person you have never met but feel like you've known for years. What a treat! I bumped into flickr friends, vendors, classmates and old friends. A blast I tell ya! The swag bags were amazing and all the moolah I spent was well worth it. Pictures coming soon. I can't wait for the Holiday event and I hope I get to be a vendor! I am working on super duper cool top secret stuff and I can't sleep it is so fun and exciting!

This week I'll be elbow deep in paint with the kidlets, planning a halloween road trip and stitch, stitch, stitching away on new goodies for the shop!

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Every morning the neighbor who lives behind us hacks up a storm. It's not just a simple H-A-A-AC-K sound, it is more like that horrible phlegmy monstrosity your brother would do as he sat on you and prepared to hock a loogie in your face when you were kids. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're missing out.

Seriously though, I hear it EVERY morning and it's gross. What does he do? Go outside and become one with nature? I imagine he spits it out somewhere in their backyard. He probably spits it in the general area of where they pulled out the glorious lemon tree that had been there from the previous owners. Neighbors, ya gotta love them. These are the same people who use their tiny hibachi grill just outside their kitchen door in such a manner that the smoke blows INTO the kitchen and sets off the smoke alarm which they ignore. For many minutes. These are the same people who for no good reason, hacked up their beautiful concord grape vine while it was chock full of the purple jewels. They then built a grape arbor of sorts and the vine has come back but still, it made a mess and all that fruit was wasted. We did score some of the wood though and now have two vines ourselves. Lookie the goodness as it grows! They are huge now. These are also the same people who wail. We think it must be some sort of prayer but the wailing can get really really loud and disturbing, ooh and they fight. Once my old neighbor thought we should call the police because it was so loud and violent sounding. It's the kind of loud you think will make them end up on COPS. Unfortunately they fight in a language that I don't understand so for all I know she's yelling at him about dirty underwear or something. These are also the people who have planted out sod for the dirt patch that runs along the sidewalk...three times, and don't water it. They put in a dozen rose bushes with cactus right next to them and underneath. They just put in the rose bushes. It's hot. It's summer. I'm not sure if the nonexistent roses are gonna come out. I guess it beats living on the other side of the courtyard where the whiney neighbor spies on everything we do and complains. She also goes through our trash and tries to sell it at her many garage sales. I'm telling ya, neighbors, you gotta love them.

I just got back from Felt Club XL Summer and I think I need to pass out now...after I drink my Izze Soda and take pictures of all my loot. Happy Sunday!

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with my post but I thought you might enjoy the colors...

I can bake shortbead from memory, dialogue along with Grease 2; songs included, play "C" on the uke and still turn a cartwheel but I can't, can't, can't manage to shape my eyebrows.

Sure I can pluck a hair here or there which is all fine and dandy until all the hairs gang up on me to create a millipede on my face. Sheesh! When did this happen? True, it has been more than a year since I went to a professional and I thought I could keep up but those pesky eyebrow hairs are sneaky I tell ya. They throw a wild party in the middle of the night and the next thing you know it's furryville. It probably doesn't help that I have my very own unibrow. I spend so much time battling it out with that monster that the wee ones take full advantage of me. I should shave y'all off, that's what I should do! What'll you do then? Huh? Where will you go, you little buggers? Where will you go?

But I won't because even though I can still turn a cartwheel, sing along to Cool Rider (and yes, I do know the choreography) I can't really draw an eyebrow shape. I'm at your mercy you wanabe millipedes and I'm begging you to cut me some slack!

Today is my first day of teaching art to wee ones. I can't wait. I also woke up early and finished my essay for Pacific Oaks. You had to write about an important event in your life. I wrote about Joey and the pig. And yes, it made me cry all over again. Sheesh! That little boy is now 15 or so. I wonder where he is?

Yesterday was non-stop busy-ness. I baked, I cooked, I cleaned, I crafted and I even watched some Gilmore Girls and read a few magazines. I don't mean to offend anyone when I write this, but Cookie Mag is a joke. It's ridiculous and elitist and I'm embarrassed I signed up for a cheap subscription oh so long ago. Oh well. You win some and you lose some. If there was anything inspiring it would be great but mostly it is just about where you can rent a villa for your family and lookie this adorable $200 sweater for your kidlet. Yikes! Oh, what did I bake? I baked chocolate chip pumpkin bars. Sooo good and for dinner I made BBQ tofu sandwiches on whole wheat bread with garden fresh lettuce and tomatoes. On the side we had a white bean salad and super sweet watermelon. I was quite proud of myself. It was the first time I tried freezing the tofu first. Sooo good!

Monday, July 09, 2007

What a week! Doctor's visits, family visits, friend visits and a whole lotta eating out! it was crazy!

On Monday both of us had medical stuff to take care of. The mister ended up on cray antibiotics and I ended up with two less moles. My neck is still recovering. Tuesday was full of a little work here and a little work there a I prepped for my first week of classes which start tomorrow. Eee! Wednesday was a holiday and we hightailed it out to Chatsworth where we breakfast-ed with Cat at Henri's and then we headed east for a day of cavorting with the mom and the sis. It was a full day. We ended up trying out a yummy new restaurant in Eagle Rock called Spitz. Yay for sweet potato fries! Then we coasted into Pasadena for a viewing of Waitress which was simply delightful but now I have that durned song stuck in my head. After the flick it was Fosselman's baby! Whoo-hoo! Homemade ice-cream at it's best! We had peach, strawberry & chocolate, and root beer float. Sooo good! Seriously folks, Fosselman's and Scoops is where it's at. Speaking of Scoop's, don't forget Felt Club XL Summer is this weekend and the master over at Scoops is opening his shop for the day which is such a good, good thing! What more can you ask for? A day of crafty shopping from some of the most talented crafters around, nifty artsy craftsy classes AND homemade brown bread ice cream? I'll be there! Gonna get me a t-shirt from Poketo. My last one has been worn too often and has too many spills to prove it. Don't miss out! Thursday was so busy I forgot what happened (oh wait, now I remember, I got to visit with the mama to be!) and Friday was another day for friends. I hung out with the Leets for her MRI and then had breakfast at Jinky's where I got to play catch-up with an old work buddy who I then invited along to crash the Blue Jay's baby shower on Saturday. No crafting this week but I did make some chocolate dipped pretzels and we scored an amazing tomato from the garden. Huge! It was so red it was magenta. Oh wait, I lied. I did do some crafting. I finished Baby B-Birdy's blanket/quilt. The mister and I worked as a team to gift the parents-to-be with a circus inspired baby blanket. Turns out this baby is gonna have a lot of blankets to choose from! And then on Sunday I cleaned. I cleaned out drawers and threw things away and discovered a most nifty gift for the Dad-to-be which I need to bring over soon. Phew! Oh and it was a week of root beer floats cuz ya know, July is National Ice Cream Month!

Friday, July 06, 2007

This strip was taken after a day of cavorting around Olvera Street and Chinatown with my old friend Cat and my new flickr friend Jules. We was soooooooo tirrrrred. The booth had just been maintenanced and the flash was extra bright. All the strips came out overexposed so the nifty gal at Pull My Daisy poppedi n her magic key and let us take a bunch of strips on the house. We were good honest peoples and took only two replace the two that came out all wonky. I showed some fine restraint and left an overexposed strip behind. Now, when I feel all sad I go back to say hi and of course pop a couple of bucks into the machine to booth a little more.

This is a week of grown-up-itis. We're all ailing with old people stuff. The mister was displaying symptoms of gut troubles. I had two moles biopsied and today I am heading out to mri town to act as moral support for a friend who is getting a brain scan. Boothing it keeps us young and happy if not always as healthy as we would like. So, if you hear the ice cream man, get yourself a bomb pop and if you happen by some sprinklers, pull over and run through them and always always always wear sunscreen!

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Happy Wednesday and Happy Fourth if you are in the States! The Foofoo Bunnies are telling you to have a grand old day and that they are lonely and need new homes. There is only so much of a Lobster-girl they can take!

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Even though 7-eleven sells a pretty tasty cupcake, I still frequent cupcake shops around town. I'm a pretty picky cupcake eater. I like more cake than frosting and I don't like super sweet. Sadly, my sense of smell has once again, gone AWOL so I'm missing out on the nuances of flavor in a lot of the cakes I try. I think my favorite cupcake shop is Leda's Bakeshop in Sherman Oaks. Big Sugar in Studio City is an adorable shop but their cupcakes, for me, aren't on the top of my list. However, if I'm jonesing for a bar I go there. She makes the best bars I have ever encountered! Especially the peanut butter chocolate swirl. Last time I was there I sampled her new pecan bar which is heavenly. Kind of like pecan pie but without all that stickiness, plus, it has a shortbread crust and ya know, I kinda like the shortbread. But, back to Leda's. It ain't cheap. The tiny bite sized cupcakes are $1.50 each and if you pick up a few it adds up quickly for not so much cake. I need to say this though, her flavors are so, so, so perfect that you only want to eat one so that you can savor it. There is just the right amount of frosting dabbed on top sometimes hiding a dollop of ganache or lemon curd. Flavor bursts can aptly be applied here. The vegan goods at Leda's are awesome. The chocolate peanut butter cookies are to die for and well, my absolute favorite is the ginger scones which are also pretty pricey pricey. The best part though of course is taking pictures of all the cuteness. Click on the pics for more info on flavors...Happy Tuesday! More cupcake pics from moi:Yummy CupcakesCafe Unforgettable CakesBig Sugar BakeshopLeda's Bakeshop7-ElevenAlcoveJunior's DeliTrader Joe'sWhole Foods

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All images and content (c) 2007-2017, Jessica Wilson, unless otherwise noted. Unauthorized use of images or content without permission is prohibited. Please give me a shout out if you have any questions! Otherwise I may have to hunt you down and kick you in the shins.

p.s. if you do link up or repost, please, please, please note that this blog is named scrumdillydilly not Scrumdillydilly. Thank you.______________________________________________